San Maurizio al Monastero Maggiore

One of the most important serie of frescoes in the entire city. An amazing voyage through the world of Milanese Renaissance paintings.

Our guided tours to S.Maurizio are truely an unique experience! The ancient church is one of the most amazing churches in Milan: its simple and elegant facade hides the beautiful interior, a real “jewel box” enriched with frescoes.

S.Maurizio used to be the church of one of the oldest and most prestigious monastery in Milan, seat of the religious order of the female wing of the Benedictines. The convent, literally built inside the structures of the Roman circus, is known since the time of Charlemagne while the present church was built around 1503.

The building is a monumental hall divided in two parts by a large wall, the smallest area, just behind the front entrance, was open to the faithful while the larger hall was designed as the cloistered nuns' choir. The extraordinary fresco decorations, painted from the 1510s, transform this sober building into a splendid and colourful casing. The most important painter involved was Bernardino Luini, a Lombard Renaissance master influenced by Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael. Luini's work was continued by his children and pupils Aurelio and Giovan Piero Luini, by artists like Callisto Piazza, Ottavio Semino and Simone Peterzano, the latter will be the master of Caravaggio.

The frescoes portrait episodes from the life of saints and the church but also describe the world of the highest nobilty of Milan in Renaissance time, we will unveil the curtain of magnificent works of arts and luxury clothes to describe the world of dark plots of the Italian lords of the time.

Address

Corso Magenta, 13 - Milano

Opening hours

Tuesday to Saturday: 9:30 am to 5:30pm

Sunday and monday: closed.